Dave Bolland Returns, Blackhawks Blow Canucks Out of Chicago

Let’s not waste time with the box score.

Kevin Bieksa should have received aninstigator penalty for jumping Viktor Stalberg in the final five minutes of the game.

And Raffi Torres, who the NHL decided didn’t need to be suspended again, got kicked out and was hit with 10 penalty minutes. Torres went out of his way to make it obvious what a failure it was by the league office to not suspend him by taking every shot he could.

But beyond the (expected) cheap shots, Tuesday night’s game was a clear example of what happens when a champion gets backed into a corner. And they have John Scott waiting.

If any Blackhawks fans – including me – had taken Dave Bolland for granted, he showed precisely what he’s worth to the team with a four-point night. He was absolutely dominant, scoring a goal and adding four assists while winning five of 11 faceoffs.

Oh, and the Blackhawks remembered how to be physical!

Troy Brouwer – 8 hits

Bryan Bickell – 8 hits

Viktor Stalberg – 6 hits

Chris Campoli – 6 hits

The Blackhawks came out on fire and ran the Canucks out of the United Center. What they did in the final 40 minutes was precisely what fans had been begging for over the last two months of the regular season and first three games of this series.

They put the hammer down and finished.

Michael Frolik had an exceptional game next to Bolland, scoring his first career postseason goal and adding two assists. Patrick Sharp also had two goals, Patrick Kane had two assists, and Bickell, Duncan Keith and Brian Campbell each had a goal in the blowout.

Now the series goes back to Vancouver for a fifth game. Whether or not the league reviews the Torres and Bieksa situations will be interesting, but the Blackhawks need to bring the same intensity three more times for their season to move on past this round.

With all due (lack of) respect, Sam, get to know your rules. What Bieksa did is textbook instigator penalty, and that comes with an automatic one match penalty. I’m fine w/ you questioning my blog, good sir, when you do so in a manner that makes clear your lack of understanding of the rules of the game.

The only thing Stalberg is guilty of is playing a sixty-minute game; those were clean hits. Whether it’s 1-1 or 7-1, you don’t play “prevent”; this isn’t the NFL! I took pride in knowing that in what might possibly have been the final game at the UC this season the Hawks finished strong–all of them! Vancouver will get its shot to retaliate Thursday; they have every right to hit hard in the final five minutes, too. . . . Torres belongs in the stands, but Bieksa has game; let him finish the series.

I could not believe Eddie or foley said nothing about the obvious instigator infraction on that punk ass bitch Bieksa. I have not read the bigger media outlets, but still good to see a knowledgable person put it in print.

Also interesting to hear you give any value to Scott’s role on this team after beating him up for most of the season. Against this team, who has been beating on the hawks like fifth graders picking on first graders, it’s nice having your big brother come in to make things right. Especially since the teachers (refs/league) aren’t doing anything to stop it.

There was a reason why Bieksa fed Stalberg his lunch. First was the blindside hit (Stalberg on Bieksa), then Stalberg tried to spear Lapierre. So Bieksa fed him his lunch. You skate around trying to spear people when you’re up 6 goals late in the game, expect that to happen.

By the way Bieksa is 6’1, 195 lbs. Stalberg is 6’3″, 210 lbs. Bieksa may have jumped him, but he didn’t start beating him up until Stalberg dropped the gloves. It’s not like Stalberg is some superstar. 3rd and 4th liners who are 6’3″, 210 lbs should be able to handle their own a little better than that.

John Scott is a useless ogre. Why would anyone fight him? Yes Scott would win. John Scott’s only job is to try to get players that can play the game to try to fight. No matter who fought him, it would be a terrible trade-off and pure stupidity to try to fight someone who is that big and dumb.

Buds, Stalberg may be tall, but he’s no bruiser. He laid a clean hit on that punk bieksa and bieksa jumped him. No doubt an instigator penalty.

And regarding John Scott, he’s a tough guy and can be a bit of a trouble maker, but he is not a thug and is far from dumb. He does not throw punches at anybody who has not dropped their gloves (see bieksa). He knows his role. And in game 4, he did it better than ever.

The hawks came into this series expecting the skill/finesse team that the Canucks have been the past handful of years and were thrown into a shitstorm of good aggressive play with some dirty hits thrown in. It may be too late, but the hawks need their big guys like Scott, bickell, brower and seabs to play tougher and the goal scorers to step up.

I’m a faithful Canucks fan and I for one was in favour of suspending Torres for his hit on Seabrook in game three. Having said that, there was at least a penalty called. But tonight Bolland blindsides Bieksa, in EXACTLY the same way, AND THERE”S NO CALL!!! Torres is a rat and should have been suspended. Bolland is a Slug dressed like a rat. ZERO class. I have officially bought into the conspiracy theory!!